Survivin' and Thrivin'!

There a lot of ways we can make our stay on this Earth better. One of the most important and one that contributes to the amount of time we're here is taking care of ourselves.

Hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, Stephen Tremp, Michael Di Gesu, and Diane Wolf  the focus of this blog hop is to bring awareness to disease prevention and early detection, as well as touching on things we can do to improve our overall health.

I don't really have a "cause" to discuss, per se', but I do want to talk about one of the greatest means of preventative medicine.

Eating right and exercising.

About a year ago, my wife and I watched Hungry for Change on Netflix and it really changed our life. For the first time we really started paying attention to what we were eating. This was just the start of our journey, though. We then checked out Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead , which was another eye opener. The success stories we saw motivated us to give juicing a try and, while we could never get the full grasp of the "juice cleanse" (the furthest we got was four days), we still gave it a shot and it helped build on the foundation of getting healthy.

Then, about two months ago, my wife's job hosted a health fare for their employees (and spouses...which would be me), so we went. They gave us a battery of tests from circulation to cholesterol, to heart and stomach screening. We also talked to nutritionists and health coaches about diet and exercise.

All in all it was a good experience....until we got our test results. Most of the results were within 'normal' ranges, but there were some high numbers there. Cholesterol and blood pressure, which was deemed "pre hyper tension" and something to keep an eye on. While my wife's numbers were better, we decided to make some drastic changes....starting with how we eat.

We had flirted with the "Paleo" diet in the past, but it was a short romance and all that meat wasn't settling well with our digestion. After some more discussing and research, we decided to go with what I can only describe as "Vegan-esque". True vegans abstain from all animal products. If it comes from an animal, they don't eat it. For us, though, this means no red meat or chicken and no diary products. We're still eating fish and eggs, but the staple of our diet is fruits and vegetables. I've found that I don't really miss meat and there are tons of great alternatives for dairy...from coconut milk to Natural Balance butter. We're wanting to get to the point where we can ditch the processed substitutes and all that sodium, but that's further down the road.

Right now, we're transitioning nicely and losing weight as we go.

They say that the key to being healthy is "80% what you eat and 20% exercising", so you can't really talk about getting (and staying) healthy without discussing exercising. On that front, we've been doing a lot of walking (neither one of us have ever been big on running) and we bought Fitbits to help us track our progress. We've also been working with kettlebells and our Total Body gym to help cover the 'weights' portion of our regimen.

In my mind, enough cannot be said about eating right and exercising as preventative measures for getting and staying healthy.

So, I wish you all good health and I'll leave you with a couple of things that have really helped me in my journey for wellness: (I know I've mentioned these before, but they bear repeating)

1. MyFitnessPal: Experts are always saying that you should keep a 'food diary' if you want to lose weight, and they're right. MFP is an excellent tool to not only help you keep track of what you're eating (calories, sodium, etc.), but it's also a great way to keep track of your progress. You can also have 'friends' to help you along. I know I've posted this before, but you can find me here.

2. After researching a few of the 'smart pedometers', we decided to go with the FitBit to help us keep tabs on how far we're walking and being active each day. I also like it because it can track your sleep patterns. You can also link it up with MyFitnessPal to get a bigger picture of your goals and progress.

3. If you don't feel like putting a ton of money into weights or just don't have a lot of room for a bench and bar, kettlebells are a good alternative. We've been starting slow with the below video:

 It's a nice primer and even includes warm-ups and cool-downs. I've also mentioned the kettlebells a few posts ago, if you want to check that out, as well.

Best of luck and stay healthy!

"Be Prepared, Son. That's My Motto. Be Prepared."

The above line is from one of my favorite movies. A movie that I find to be one of the true, underrated, classic films of the early 90s.

The Last Boy Scout.
 

When I saw Alex J. Cavanaugh's Underrated Treasures post, this film was the first thing that popped into my mind.

Starring Bruce Willis as his usual, down and out-type character....ex-Secret Service agent (for President Carter...hey, it was the 90s) / do-gooder turned private investigator and Damon Wayans as Jimmy Dix, an ex pro football player who was fired for snorting his paychecks, The Last Boy Scout was one of those quirky films that, sort of, sneaks up on you.

I had never even heard of this movie before seeing it at Blockbuster (yes, I first saw it on VHS...hey, it was the 90s). The advertising budget must have been minimal, even with headliners like Willis and Wayans....who weren't exactly Hollywood lightweights back then. I also don't remember ever seeing any trailers for this at the movies. This is the "ignorant bliss" we enjoyed back in those pre-internet days.

There were quite a few stars in this one, as well. Halle Berry, Billy (Tae Bo!) Blanks, and Bruce MacGill had small parts and Noble Willingham (You'd know him if you saw him) played the 'baddie'.

For my friends and I, this film was one of those "quotable" flicks. One where we'd try to insert a quote into any conversation we could. In my circle of friends, this was one of those 'cult classics'. I'd love to quote you some but, unfortunately, most of them involve some pretty off color language and this is a PG-13 blog ;)

There is one, though, that I can share. Wayan's character screaming at Willis' character as they engage in a car chase.

"Joe if you go any faster, we're going to travel back in time!"

It's your typical action/dramady genre film, but one that impressed me so much because it, sort of, just appeared. Besides my circle of friends, I rarely come across anyone who has even heard of it, much less seen it.

Truly, one of the underrated treasures, in my book.

3 Ups Blog Hop!

I know, I know...."Come on, Mark, not another blog hop!!" Now, before you start burning me in effigy....or Cincinnati......or New Jersey.....or wherever else you're from, read below :)

While this is "technically" a blog hop, it's not your typical blog hop. Randi Lee, over at The Emotional Process of Writing a Novel (say that three times fast...I dare ya!), came up with this great idea to help 'community build' while giving everyone a chance to find some new and different blogs.

Here's how Randi put it:

"Over the next week or two (depending on how much interest I get) I’d like to generate a list of people who want to participate. Once this list is at a good number we’ll get started. The way it will work is like this: each blogger will pick the blogger listed below them, visit his or her site, read a post or two, and then tell them three things they like about the person or his or her blog. Easy enough, right?"

Yep...easy enough! Checking the list, today, I saw my 3 Up partner was M.J. Joachim. I've been following a couple of M.J.'s blogs, for a while now, so this won't be difficult at all. In fact, the most difficult thing will be limiting myself to saying only three nice things about her and her blog.

So, here goes...in true, old school, Nintendo video game fashion:

1 UP! Extremely Interesting Blog Achievement: Unlocked!

I've said this before, in other posts, but the whole reason I got into blogging in the first place was that I really enjoyed reading about people's lives. Why this is, I don't know, but I just find it very interesting to hear about the ups and downs people go through. For me, M.J.'s blog is one of the most interesting out there. Her topics always hook me in and I can always relate. Her writing style flows well and is very conversational...something that's always a plus with me.

2 UP! Passionate Soul Achievement: Unlocked!

Just read one of M.J.'s posts and you can see that she pours her soul into each and every one of them. It's this kind of passion for, not only writing, but living that's also a huge draw. Never preachy, but always thought provoking.

3 UP! Great Looking Blog Achievement: Unlocked!

This should be a given on any blog out there but, unfortunately, it's not always the case. M.J.'s blog, though, looks great. The background is crisp and clear, her text and background color don't clash (believe it or not, I've seen some very hard to read blogs out there) and her columns are well organized and not cluttered. Overall, it's just a nice site to navigate and that's something I always appreciate in a blog.

So what are you waiting for? Don't just take my word for it......go check out M.J. Joachim's place and see for yourself! You'll be glad you did, I promise :)

A big 'thank you' to Randi for hosting this little hop and, if you'd like to see the list of folks involved, check it out HERE.

Best and Worst Movie Remakes Blogfest

When I saw this, my first thought was...."Ugh, a blog hop so soon after A to Z?". Then, I read about it and found it was right up my alley, so I just had to participate :)

Thanks to Alex, Stephen, Livia, and Father Dragon (Al Diaz) for hosting!

If there's one thing I'm saying about Hollywood, on a constant basis, is that there are never enough original ideas coming from them.

In comes the (sometimes) dreaded "remake".

When it comes to the movie "remake", the term always makes me cringe because it's such a double-edged sword....especially if the original was a movie you really liked. A lot of times you're rolling the dice when you plunk down your money for one of these.

Now, when I think "best" and "worst" in terms of movie remakes, here are the first ones that spring to mind...

The Worst:

Superman Returns: I know this wasn't touted as an actual "remake", but anyone who saw both this and the original could attest to it being one. Even Kevin Spacey's great Lex Luthor couldn't counteract just the sheer "fail"-ness of this flick. They make Superman out to be, basically, a stalker.....following Lois Lane around like a lost puppy. Parker Posey's character was just annoying, but not near so much as the almost verbatim use of some of the lines from the original.

I think this one qualifies as a 'worst' because, even though it had so much potential, I was so disappointed in it.

In this case, I would have been happy if Superman hadn't returned.

The Wild, Wild, West:  While, technically, not a movie remake, it was a remake of one of my favorite television series of all times times and was so bad that it made me want to punch Wil Smith and Kevin Kline in their respective noses.

O.k, well, maybe it wasn't as bad as all that....but this one was pretty terrible.

First of all, the casting was waaaaay off and it doesn't even have anything to do with skin color. I didn't have a huge problem with James West being a 'buffalo soldier' as much as I did seeing the Fresh Prince of Bel Air pretending to be a Secret Service Agent. I mean, honestly, Wil Smith's acting chops are pretty extensive, but he just phoned this one in. Honestly, I think he was just in it for the paycheck and, unfortunately, it showed.

Kevin Kline, who I think is a great actor, honestly was no better. Even worse than Smith because he wasn't even credible as a 'whacky inventor' much less a Secret Service Agent. I'm sure Ross Martin was spinning in his grave over this one and I know Robert Conrad wasn't any happier. Kevin Branagh was, also, sorely miscast as a parody of the original Miguelito Loveless character portrayed by the great Michael Dunne. He must've been hard up for a paycheck, too.

This film should have stayed out West....far, out West.

(Dis)Honorable mentions for 'worst' also go out to:

The Day the Earth Stood Still
Arthur
The Nutty Professor

Now, on a brighter note, here are....

The Best:

The Manchurian Candidate:  While I've never been a huge Denzel Washington fan, I thought he was great in this remake of the old Sinatra classic. The story flowed nicely and, even though a few things were updated to reflect today's society, it still made sense and was a compelling story.

I've also never been a big Meryl Streep fan, either, but have to admit she nailed the part of Shaw's evil mother, originally portrayed by Angela Lansbury.

I had seen the original film in bits and pieces, but gave it a full watch before going to see this one. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

This remake has my vote.

Ocean's 11: This "Rat Pack" remake hit all the marks for me. Nice pacing, some cool twists, colorful characters and great leads. Clooney and Pitt worked well together. Now, granted, I could have done without Julia Roberts, but even her presence didn't take away from the slickness and tight story of this one.

While the cast didn't have the same savoir fare of the original, they still came off as pretty darn cool.

This remake hit the jackpot.

Honorable mentions for "best" also go to:

The Mechanic
True Grit
Planet of the Apes

So, how about you? What are your favorite...or least favorite....movie remakes?

Ninja Captain Alex's Top Ten Movie Countdown / Music Monday

I thought this was one of the most devious ideas yet, for a blog hop!

Yes, I said devious....I mean, think about it...having to narrow down years of movie experiences down to just ten films?? I'm sure Alex is just sitting there...cackling in maniacal glee at the quandary he's put me in!

O.k, I'm sure he's not...but still...this is a toughie. All the particulars, as well as a list of others doing this hop, can be found HERE.

I think it's going to take some thought so, while I do that, I'll leave you with a little tie in Music Monday selection from The Statler Brothers. An old country classic...The Movies. (And you thought I just liked surf music....)

O.k, I think I've had some time to think and here's my top ten movies, in descending order:

10. Trancers-- I loves me some cheesy, "B" movies and no studio does them better than Full Moon Pictures. Trooper Jack Deth, trancer hunter extraordinaire, is sent back in time to stop a madman from murdering the ancestors of The Council and sending Angel City (Old Los Angeles) into turmoil. The only catch...he has to inhabit the body of an ancestor to complete the trip. And the other catch....the ancestor of the madman is a respected police chief. Cult movie icon, Tim Thomerson stars with a very young Helen Hunt (before Mad About You) and Telma Hopkins (Tony Orlando and Dawn, Family Matters). While not really Oscar worthy, it still remains one of my most favorite 'fun flicks'.

9. Armageddon-- I really can't tell you why this movie is on my list....it just is. Every time, without fail, that I see this on t.v., I stop what I'm doing and watch it. Maybe it's just the idea of a bunch of misfits getting together to save the world, or maybe it's just the Bruce Willis/Ben Affleck dynamic, I'm not sure. This movie even made me stomach Billy Bob Thornton who plays a great role as a NASA coordinator, tasked with saving the world. This movie also has one of my most favorite quotes from a movie.

 Dr. Banks: [going through the roughnecks' medical reports] Fail. Fail. Depressively fail! One toxicology analysis revealed ketamin, that is a very powerful sedative!
Harry: Sedatives are used all the time, doctor.
Dr. Banks: Well this one's used on horses.
Harry: Some of these guys are pretty big.

8.  Charlie Chan-- This really encompasses any of the films made back in the 1940s and featuring the famous oriental sleuth created by author Earl Derr Biggers. I always enjoyed Charlie's little bits of wisdom "Mind like parachute...only works when open." and the bumblings of his well meaning, but inept, Number One Son. Again fun films from a simpler time.

7. The Thin Man-- Another film series that I've always enjoyed. William Powell and Myrna Loy had incredible chemistry which, in my opinion, was most of the reason for the series' success. Powell plays famous detective Nick Charles who marries the wealthy Nora, played by Loy, and try as they might, they just can't seem to stay out of trouble. Mysteries and snappy patter abound in these clever movies.

6. Casablanca-- A timeless classic that has it all. Romance, action, adventure, Nazis...the works. Humphrey Bogart plays the American expatriate, Rick and Ingrid Bergman is his long lost love, Ilsa. For me, though, some of the best parts are played by Claude Raines, Sidney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre at his creepiest.

5. The Avengers-- The movie that I didn't have a lot of faith in before it came out, but hit it out of the park when I saw it. I found it simply amazing how Whedon took such an ensemble cast, gave them each screen time, and still told an all encompassing story. Marvel really did it right with this one, I have to say. From the teasers in the separate films to the finished product, this movie really made it feel like I was watching a comic book come to life...and that's saying something.

4. Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins-- Based on the old Destroyer novels and starring Fred Ward and Joel Gray, this action/adventure tale didn't fare well at the box office, but I've always found it to be just one of those 'fun' films I can watch over and over. I've tried giving the novels a read, but never got very far so I have to wonder just how well the film sticks to the original source material. Either way, though, I guess you could classify this as a 'cheesey' sort of movie, but I'm good with that. It does one of the things I feel movies should do, if nothing else, and that's entertain.

3. Back to the Future-- I've always loved time travel movies...especially one with as many twists and turns as this movie had. While I was never a huge fan of Michael J. Fox, I thought he was outstanding as the awkward teen who had to travel into the past to find the confidence to face the future. For me, though, the true star was Christopher Lloyd who played the 'slightly' eccentric, but father like figure of Doc Brown. This movie hit a lot of the right spots for me as far as blending action, sci-fi, romance (a tiny bit), and even teen angst into one great film.

2. Star Wars-- O.k, come on now...what self respecting, self professed, geek wouldn't have this one in their top ten? This came out at a time when sci-fi films weren't taken all that seriously. It started an almost cult like following among sci-fi fans as well as launched one of the biggest franchises in movie history. The hero's journey of Luke Skywalker is one I can watch again and again. Granted, I haven't been so enamored with the newer offerings as I was with the original but, to paraphrase Obi Wan Kenobi, 'a more elegant movie for a simpler time'.


And my number one movie is.......

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark-- Ever since I was a kid, I've loved the old movie serials. Having seen quite a few of them overseas, I fell in love with the weekly cliffhangers and the larger than life heroes (and villains) who escaped dire peril week after week. This film was all that and more....on steroids. Harrison Ford is just awesome as adventurer/archaeologist Henry "Indiana" Jones. Initially, I wanted to see this movie because 'Han Solo was in it'....but it wasn't long before Raiders surpassed Star Wars as my favorite film. It has all the elements I love in a film....except for time travel...and I can forgive that because it's just that good a movie.

I always wonder how this movie would have done if the original choice to play Indy, Tom Selleck, had taken the role?





So, there you have it....my top ten films....and, let me tell you..this wasn't easy. Thanks, Alex, for hosting this and I'll look forward to seeing everyone else's entries.

As they used to say in the old movies...."See ya in the funny papers"

Got Green Blogfest 2.0 / Google Reader Woes

Mark (O') Koopmans is hosting this colorful, little, bloghop to help celebrate that moss hued holiday...St. Patrick's Day. I believe there's still time to sign up if you want to join in on the festivities and you can find all the particulars HERE

Basically, the idea is to share our thoughts on how we get our 'Irish' on in 333 words or less.

Yes...333 words....though, I'm sure if you go over Mark won't show up at your house and hit you over the head with a shillelagh.....or will he?  >.>

Anyway, since I'm not Irish and really have no experiences of that sort to relate, I'll drop some trivia on you...

• The man who was to become St. Patrick was kidnapped, at the age of sixteen, by Irish raiders and brought to Ireland to serve as a slave. He was told by God, in a dream, to flee to the coast where he found a ship that took him back to Britain.
• According to legend, St. Patrick drove all the snakes from Ireland and to the sea. It's generally agreed upon, though, that its' a metaphor for his good works. Snakes being the common symbol for paganism (and not found in Ireland), it represents St. Patrick driving paganism from the country.
• While it's generally believed that the shamrock was what St. Patrick used to explain the Holy Trinity, others believe that the three pronged leaf was worn as a symbol of the cross.
• The Druids believed that four leafed clovers aided in spotting witches and demons, hence they were 'good luck charms'. 
• Usually the clover leaf is only split into three parts, but some botanists believe that if a young clover leaf is damaged or exposed to certain chemicals, it takes on a fourth segment and becomes a 'four leafed clover'.
• It's said that snakes avoid shamrocks and that the plant is also a remedy for snake and scorpion bites.
• Some say that for good luck you should kiss the Blarney Stone, which is set into one of the walls of Blarney Castle. Legend has it that a witch cast a spell on the stone to reward the king for saving her from drowning. The spell gave the king the ability to speak 'persuasively eloquent' after kissing the stone.
• Legend has it that if you catch a leprechaun, you can make him tell you where his gold is hidden IF you don't look away from him. If you do...and they'll always try to trick you into doing so...he'll disappear, taking his gold with him.

I'll leave you with this Irish blessing:

May you live as long as you want

And never want as long as you live.

So, how about you? Any plans for St. Patrick's Day?

A big 'thank you' to Mark Koopmans for hosting this hop and I'm glad I had a chance to participate in it this go 'round.

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You've probably already heard that on July 1st, Google Reader will be no more.

Google is citing that declining usage as well as their need to focus on other products as the reasoning behind this.

While you can download your Reader data via Google Takeout during the three month 'sunset period' they're giving us, you'll still have to find an alternative.

While the site Lifehacker had some alternatives, I'm still not sure which might be the best route to go.

Needless to say, I don't think the blogging community is going to be too happy with this turn of events.

Any ideas on what might be a viable alternative?

Have a great Friday and an even better weekend!

A Little of This and a Dash of That...

Not much going on today. My friend's daughter and her friend have been staying with us as they do a fact finding mission on our local beaches as well as our "night life establishments".  *Ahem*

Ah, to be young again.....

Anyway, I just thought I'd throw out a couple reminders of some fun blog hops that I'll be hopping around to in the next few days.

The first is coming up this Friday, the 15th. Mark Koopmans is hosting his second "Got Green Blogfest". All the pertinent info as well as sign up, HERE and it looks to be a lot of fun. The premise is simple....just explain how you get your "Irish" on...that's it. The stories can be real or imagined and, being of Cherokee Indian and German descent, my story will, more than likely, be imagined :)

It should be a fun one, so sign up and give Mark K. a virtual kiss....he's Irish...I think...

The other hop, coming up on Monday, the 18th is hosted by the Ninja Captain himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh and it's another straightforward and fun hop, especially if you like movies.....which I do! You can find the info and sign up linky HERE . So, your mission...if you should decide to accept it (and you should)...is to mentally round up your top ten favorite films and report in with our Captain on Monday. It should be a lot of fun.


Something else I've been thinking about as I hop around the blogosphere...and this idea might serve me better as next month's IWSG posting....but, I've been thinking if, mabye,  I'm too lowbrow for this writing thing.

I won't go into the particulars here, but sometimes I just get the feeling that the life of a writer seems more complicated than I anticipated. Not that I plan on quitting writing or anything like that....I enjoy it too much..., it's just that I consider myself a pretty un-complicated guy and that's how I like to live.

I don't know....I guess I'll have to think more on it and, like I said, it might wind up being my IWSG post for next month....we'll see.



I know it's not Monday, but I'll throw in a little bit of Surf Music to help you get over the Hump. Here's the 'King of the Surf Guitar' himself, Dick Dale, doing his rendition of "Ghost Riders in the Sky".

Have a great Wednesday!

Overcoming Adversity Reveal / Music Monday

A couple of weeks ago, Nick Wilford over at Scattergun Scribblings, came up with a little blog hop to help raise some money for his stepson's education. His stepson, Andrew, has cerebral palsy and his choices of colleges aren't as wide or varied in Scotland as we have here in America.

To that end, the goal of the hop was to gather material for a book Nick was planning and use the proceeds to help Andrew further his education.

I was happy to help out with a (last minute) entry and even happier to see the project come to fruition.

So, without further ado....I give you Overcoming Adversity. 

Take it away, Nick.....

A collection of seventy moving and uplifting original pieces - real life, flash fiction, and poetry - about battling against the odds and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit. The contributors include Amazon bestselling authors Alex J. Cavanaugh and Kyra Lennon, and the cream of upcoming talent.

 The anthology is part of a fundraising effort to send the editor's stepson, Andrew McNaughton, to a specialist college in England. Andrew has cerebral palsy, and is a remarkable young man with a promising future. However, the free further education options offered in his own country of Scotland will not challenge him and allow him to progress. In order to access the education he deserves, Andrew will have to pay exorbitant fees, thus creating a situation of discrimination. 

Help us get Andrew to college by buying a book that runs the full gamut of human emotions, ultimately leaving you inspired and glad to be alive. Whatever struggles you are going through, our sincere hope is that this book will help.

"But Mark", I hear you thinking (I can, sometimes hear your thoughts, yes), "just where can I get my hands on this amazing anthology?"

Well, I'm glad you asked that....because Overcoming Adversity can be found at....

Amazon U.S.

Amazon U.K

Smashwords

Goodreads

 So head over and buy a copy...or two...or three...and enjoy some great stories on Overcoming Adversity. It's for a great cause.

Best of luck to Nick and Andrew!


I'll leave you, this Monday, with some cool music that's been running through my brain all weekend.

If you follow along on my other blog, you've seen how I've recently re-discovered my love for "Surf Music". Having grown up listening to The Ventures, The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, as well as many others (thanks dad), it was only natural that I carry my fondness of this music genre with me through and into my, ahem, later years.

So, if this doesn't get you going or, at the very least, your foot tapping then go back to bed!

The Ventures: Pipeline

Have a great Monday!

Time Circuits On....Flux Capacitor...Fluxing...

You're up before dawn on a Saturday when the doorbell rings. You haven't brewed your coffee so you wonder if you imagined the sound. Plonking the half-filled carafe in the sink, you go to the front door and cautiously swing it open. No one there. As you cast your eyes to the ground, you see a parcel addressed to you ... from you.

You scoop it up and haul it inside, sensing something legitimate despite the extreme oddness of the situation. Carefully, you pry it open. Inside is a shoebox -- sent from ten years in the future -- and it's filled with items you have sent yourself.

What's in it?

This is the premise for The Back from the Future bloghop going on today...all day! Brought to you by Suze over at Subliminal Coffee, M. Pax, and Nicki Elson at Not-So-Deep Thoughts, it looks to be a lot of fun. What are you waiting for? Hop around...check out some new blogs...see what the future might have in store for them!

This could be heavy, Doc.

When I opened the shoe box  I would have sworn it was just some sort of stunt. Yeah, I signed up for the blog hop and figured it'd be a lot of laughs. I never expected something like this, though. I mean, how on earth did they get my address?

The more I began going through the box, the more I got the eerie feeling that this wasn't a hoax. I mean, first of all the name brand of the shoe was "J.Biebers". I shook my head thinking it couldn't be. I mean if someone was going to pull a gag, you would think they could do better than "J.Biebers". A chill ran down my spine.

This was the real deal.

Inside I found a very worn, used, copy of a book called "The T.E.M.P" Agency", with my name as the author. The cover featured a ruggedly handsome man in a hat and trench coat, a deep cut in his chest revealing blinking lights and fiber optic cables, as he stood in front of a gypsy woman protectively.

I shook my head...."It can't be, I thought....I...haven't...finished this yet." 

On the inside cover, in my handwriting, were the words "The first of many!"

Slowly, I turned the book around to the back cover and saw a black and white picture of me staring back at myself with a smirk. My eyes widened and I could tell that it was the same face I stared at in the mirror every morning....just with a few more wrinkles. My hair still cut short and cropped as it is today.

"Well...at least I still have my hair." I said to myself, my fingers running through my short cropped, receding follicles.

The more I rifled through the box, the stranger it got.

I found a pair of  front row tickets to a concert. The headliner, strangely enough, had the same name as my nephew. There was also an invitation to my sister's wedding, dated just a couple of years from today. "Whew! At least mom and dad can quit worrying." I thought as I stared in awe at the artifacts, obviously from the future. 

The biggest shock, though, was when I looked at the only picture in the box. It was me and my wife, posed with two sets of twins. Two boys and two girls. It made sense as my mom and my wife's mom were both fraternal twins.

"I better start saving some money...." I thought.

The very last thing I pulled out of the box. The thing that filled me with the most hope. An envelope.

Inside the envelope was a piece of paper with these words, written in my crappy handwriting....

And that was it. 

No stock tips....no clue on who wins the next ten World Series or Super Bowls...nothing. The way I figure it, though,is that 'future' me knew how lazy 'present day' me is and, if my life got any easier, I'd probably give up writing for laying on the beach or something. Either that, or 'future me' might have thought too much info could punch a hole in the space-time continuum the size of Belgium. Who knows?

Anyway, it was like Doc Brown always told me...o.k, he didn't actually tell me....but, in the movies he told Marty....

"Your future is whatever you make it....so make it a good one."

And that's just what I did....or will do...or....well, you get the idea.

(A big "Thank You" to Suze, Mary, and Nicki for hosting this fun hop)

The Healthy Writers Club

Since it's Friday, it also means it's time for a 'getting healthy' update and The Healthy Writers Club.

Shalle McArthur hosts the club each week and we come together to discuss all those fun (can you hear the sarcasm?) topics such as losing weight, getting in shape, eating right, etc.

Unfortunately, this week isn't much of an improvement over last. I did, though, manage to work out once this week as well as go for a couple of brisk walks with the wife.

I haven't been keeping up much with MyFitnessPal, but try to pop in to encourage my fellow fitness enthusiasts. On the flip side, I'm not really eating a lot or even badly....but I know I should still, at least, be confirming it with some sort of calorie measures.

While I'm still nowhere near where I should be, I'm getting closer. Hopefully, I'll have a better report next Friday.

How about you?

What might 'future you' send back to 'present you'?

In shape? Getting there or just thinking about it?

Here's hoping you all have a great Friday and an even better weekend!

Wednesday's a hoppin'

Today I'm participating in not one, but two....that's right two....bloghops. I say that like I'm some wordsmithing powerhouse, but hey...it's the little things, right?

Anywho...on to the hops!!

First up is a neat little excursion I saw over on Alison's Geek Banter blog. She and Jamie from Mithril Wisdom want to know what some of our favorite games are and how do we enjoy "Leveling Up!".

I realize that I'm going to be giving my age away here, but I remember when the only 'video' type game out there was the original Pong. I got it one year, for Christmas, and played the crap out of it....figuratively speaking, of course.

Pong was great until the advent of Atari, where I got hooked on Space Invaders. From there it was the original Nintendo where my friends and I would have have all nighters playing Castlevania. Now that was a hard game....but lots of fun and many hours of sleep were sacrificed in defeating Count Dracula!

Two of my all time favorite games are the first Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior 3 for the original Nintendo. In fact, I have the first Final Fantasy game downloaded onto my Wii and still play it when I'm feeling nostalgic.

These days, though, my favorite game would have be (as cliched as it is) World of Warcraft. It's an MMO (Massively Multi-player Online) RPG (Role Playing Game) where you play with millions (in WoW's case) of other players.

One of the reasons this game will always hold a special place in my heart is that it's where I met my wife. She was one of those millions of players who I happened to start talking to and interacting with. Things progressed into the physical world and the rest, as they say, is history.

To this day, we still play and are hopeless alt-aholics. We have our own mini-launch parties with each new expansion and just have a great time playing the game.

World of Warcraft, as silly as it sounds, helped me to level up in the real world as well as the virtual one.

Some honorable mentions from other game genres:

Board Games: Clue, Monopoly, Descent.

Card Games: Munchkin, Magic the Gathering, Euchre

Table Top Role Playing Games: Champions, Feng Shui, D.C. Heroes

Cue cartoon hopping sound effects....

Now, springing to the next hop....

Elise Fallson and her blogging buddy Michelle Wallace at Writer in Transit have put together a very creative and fun hop to celebrate their one and two year. respectfully, blogging anniversaries.

They've provided the pictures and we're supposed to provide the captions and we got bonus points if we use the words twist, cheek, buzz, honour, grey, champagne, tango, and vomit.

Here goes....

Panel 1:

M-- "Elise, you do realize that you have to get into  the balloon before it takes off, right?

E-- "No really? I thought I'd just put a new twist on things and jog next to it."<smirks>










Panel 2:

M--"Will you stop fooling around and get up here. It's tough to steer this thing with a buzz from the champagne. I need another drink."

E--"I'm working on it, but I need to make sure my skirt doesn't fall. I wouldn't want that lurking dragon to see me 'turn the other cheek', as it were....ahem."










Panel 3:

Hero--"Never fear ladies...Major Vomit is here! I bet you're wondering about the name....well...it's a long story and...."

Panel 4:

Major Vomit--"Ooooffff!"




















Panel 5:

M--"When I said I needed a 'drink' this wasn't what I meant. I'm just sooo glad we had the honour of being rescued by this doofus."









Panel 6:

E--"The Major obviously proves the fact that you don't need a lot of grey matter to be a super hero. Ugh...we're soaking wet!"


M--"I think I heard a combination of a 'splash' and a 'thud'. Sounds like The Major is following the law. The law of gravity."

Panel 7:

Dragon--"O.k, I guess I should explain why I've been lurking in the background....you see, I've been trying to learn the tango and...."

M--"Nope, not interested sorry. Hurry Elise, we need to get back behind our keyboards where it's safe. This way back to  the blogosphere!!"


Congrats to Elise and Michelle. Here's to many more years of blogging and having fun doing it!

Potpourri for $500, Alex....

This week's been a fairly busy one, here at the Means Mansion. Out of town company has thrown off my schedule...and that's totally fine. It was nice to have my mom and sister down from the frozen wastes of Kentucky for some fun in the sun....even though it pretty much rained all day Thursday. We still hit all the places my sister wanted to see before they leave today...mainly, the beach and Disney World, which I mentioned on Wednesday.

(For anyone interested in more pics from the Disney trip, they can be found at my other blog....here.)

This, obviously, meant nothing much got done writing-wise. I was lucky to be able to crank out a few blog post in what little spare time I did have.

As far as some of my actual writing is going.....

When time permits, I'm still going back through The T.E.M.P Agency...rereading, researching,editing, and revising.

Not much progress on my Lucha Libre murder mystery project, besides random ideas here and there. I'm still looking to make it as "fair play" as possible without giving the whole thing away in the first few paragraphs. As I've said before, mystery writing is fun.....but challenging.

Bloghops!

Next week means a couple of fun bloghops that I'll be participating in. Elise Fallson, over at...ummm...Elise Fallson, is doing a hop with one of her writing pals to celebrate her one year anniversary traversing the blogosphere. "She Said What?" sounds like a lot of fun and congrats to Elise on her milestone.

Allison, over at Geek Banter, is hosting a "Level Up!" blogfest centering around a favorite game...regardless of whether it be board, card, video, computer, etc. This one sounds like a lot of fun and something right up my alley.

Links to both hops can be found on the right sidebar.

Friday also means it's time for another installment of The Healthy Writer's Club, hosted by Shallee McArthur.

Unfortunately, not much to report for this week. In fact, if anything, I'm pretty sure I was the antithesis of a "healthy writer". I haven't logged into my MyFitnessPal account since Sunday and have eaten fairly poorly. So, it looks like I've been "unhealthy" as well as "not writing". I feel like the Bizarro version of myself.

Me am so happy! (Bizarro speak for "Ugh!")

Nothing earth shattering, though. There's always next week and I can do nothing but improve after this one.

Right??

Oh, and as a side note, I've just noticed that this post makes my 25th for 2013, so far. That's one more than I wrote for all of 2012. A small accomplishment, but an accomplishment all the same.

Hope you all have a great Friday and an even better weekend!

A Good Cause

When I opened my Google reader this morning, a bunch of the blogs I follow were highlighting a very special bloghop. It's called "Overcoming Adversity", hosted by Nick Wilford over at Scattergun Scribblings. It's a hop designed to help his son, who has cerebral palsy, get into college. Something not readily available for special needs students in Scotland. Nick plans on compiling an anthology of the posts, with the proceeds going to help fund his son's schooling.

I'm totally down with that.

This seemed like a good idea for a great cause and, lucky for me, I was able to still sign up. How I missed it, initially, I have no clue. So, at about 3:00 pm today, I did just that....having no idea what I'm going to write, but I figure I'll come up with something.....so, here goes.....

The Last Minute

"Look...no pressure or anything...but, if you don't do this, it's going to be the end of the human race. We have five minutes left!"

"Yeah, no pressure....sure...right..." Simon said into his com-link, trying to keep the utter panic out of his voice. His hands were shaking like a wino suffering from the DTs.

Because that's what he was. Or, at least, had been. He didn't like to think of himself as a "wino" anymore. He hadn't had a drink in months....though, sometimes, those months felt like years. He licked his lips.

He sure could use a drink.

"No!", he thought...he didn't need the booze. Not anymore.

"You sure about this thing?" Simon asked, trying to steady the wire clippers in his left hand. The back of his right hand wiping sweat from his furrowed brow.

"As sure as we can be...." the voice on the other end of the com-link said. "If it blows, that's it. Ta-ta terra firma. Look, I know your training doesn't even begin to cover this, but you were the one in the chamber when it locked, so we're a little behind the eight-ball here."

Karlov was scared and, if he was scared, Simon should be too....he knew that. "We only have five minutes left...." Simon muttered to himself.

"Four minutes left, Simon!" the captain called over the link.

 It had seemed like just yesterday he had heard of the massive, global, conspiracy that had replaced the leaders of the world with slimy, alien impostors. These impostors had really made a mess of things....probably more so than their real counterparts would have done.

Maybe.

Everything had been geared to throw the planet into chaos, making Earth ripe for an invasion force from a dying planet. They had succeeded, for the most part. That is, until the resistance movement found the one thing the really fouled the aliens up.

Pencils. Well, the graphite in the pencils was the real anathema to the P'locus as they slowly revealed themselves to be called.  

Simon's hands trembled more and he began sweating profusely.

"Three minutes, Simon. Do you have the plate off? Can you see the wires?"

"I've had the plate off", Simon said slowly, "which wire?"

"You've..." Karlov stammered, then blurted out, "the green wire. Cut the green wire!"

"Green wire....green wire...green wire..." Simon exhaled, fingering the five wires before him.

"Quit gabbin' and cut the damn wire! Two minutes left!" the captain screamed into Simon's earpiece.

"Captain...I think there's something I should have told you years ago." Simon said.

"What's that?" Karlov said, almost breathless.

"I'm colorblind." Simon said, his hands suddenly stopped shaking.

For a second there was nothing but static on the other end of Simon's earpiece.

"Simon, just cut one....and pray.", Karlov said low, "Last minute."

And he did...suddenly knowing in the bottom of his heart that he was given the chance to crawl out from the bottom of the bottle for a purpose.

This was that purpose.

Simon took a deep breath and cut a wire.




Years later, when he would retell the story to his children and, then later, grandchildren....he'd leave out the part about where he had pissed his pants.



Thanks for hosting this hop, Nick, and best wishes on your son's academic future.

Introductions

I happened across this cool blog hop a few weeks ago and it seemed like a great opportunity to get to know some of my fellow bloggers a bit better. Hosted by Stephen Tremp, Mark Koopmans, Elise Fallson, and C.M. Brown, it's a quick hop to get acquainted (or re-acquainted) with others in the vast blogosphere and a big 'thank you' to them for hosting this shindig.

Anyway, I've never really considered myself an "interesting" person. I've always been one to play things 'safe' and have never been a risk taker. I enjoy writing because it lets me do, with words, things I probably wouldn't do in real life.

Growing up, my dad was in the Navy and that meant travel. A lot of travel...at least in the eyes of a young boy. We moved about every two years until I was around twelve years old. The most exotic place we lived was Sigonella Sicily. Anyone familiar with the area knows it's near the active volcano Mt. Aetna. Aetna puts on a pretty impressive light show, from time to time, and I used to have a pretty neat collection of volcano rocks (which got lost in subsequent moves). A neat place to visit, but I don't think I'd want to live there on a permanent basis.

Mt. Aetna

All that traveling, though, early in my life set me up for something positive in that I found I made friends easily. It was, pretty much, a necessity going from school to school every couple of years.

I've covered, in another post, about my beginnings as a writer....but, not as a blogger. Though, I really don't consider myself a "blogger" (or really a "writer", for that matter) as much as I do "someone who blogs occasionally", it's something I'm enjoying more an more and, especially, as I start to interact with other bloggers in the community.

When I checked my blogger profile it says I've been using blogger since 2006. Really? Wow...that must have been when I signed up, because I clearly haven't been using it since then. It's only been within the past few years that I started blogging on an even semi-regular basis.

Emphasis on 'semi'.

Anyway....long post longer....my name is Mark. I like to write and create and I look forward to interacting and encouraging my fellow bloggers and writers.

Nice to meet you =)

My Favorite Martian

So, the cool cats over at "The Geek Twins" blog (as well as a few others) are hosting this "My Favorite Martian" bloghop and  they're asking the timeless question....

...just who (or what) is your favorite alien? I didn't want to ask if they meant 'real' or 'imagined', so I just went with 'imagined' ;)

At first, I thought it was going to be a no-brainer. Of course I'd choose my favorite Kryptonian....Kal El.

Perhaps you know him better by his nom de voyage, or the name he travels under; Superman.--Lex Luthor, Superman:II

 Anyway, I got to thinking and figured that Ma Kent's favorite son would be too easy. So, the more I thought on it, the more it became clear that I should really honor one of the very first aliens I remember being interested in....an old friend from one of the first t.v. shows I remember watching when I was young, and I realize I'm dating myself here, but I don't care.

My pick is Ultraman!!

Originally airing in Japan in 1966, I don't think it hit American until around 1972. I remember watching this when I was about four or five years old and it really jump started my imagination. I used to lay in bed, imagining I was Ultraman and fighting giant monsters in northern Kentucky.

For the uninitiated, Ultraman was a live action, children's (I guess it was for kids...) series about an alien from Nebula M78 who, accidentally, crashed into a vehicle piloted by Science Patrol agent Shin Hayata. To save Hayata's life, Ultraman merges his life force with Hayata and they become one being. Due to Ultraman's vulnerability to Earth's atmosphere, most of their time is spent in human form. When there's trouble, though, Hayata rushes to a clear spot, presses a button on the Beta Capsule, and grows into the giant alien.

Now, where did I leave that Beta Capsule?

Ultraman had a wide variety of powers at his disposal to combat the giant monster threat that the future, which was the 1990s (remember this was back in the 1960s) held.

If I had a dime for every time I struck this pose as a kid..

His main weapon was his Spacium Ray. A beam of intense light particles that did in most, run of the mill, giant monsters. It made 'em blow up...real good!

Ultraman could also fly (always taking off with a "Shaaaaaa!") and was a solid hand to hand combatant. I can honestly say that Ultraman probably had just a big an impact on me becoming a pro wrestling fan as Vince McMahon Jr. did in driving me away from it years later. I mean when you think about it...two guys in funny suits, pretending to duke it out....yeah, not too much of a stretch.

A full list of Ultraman's amazing powers can be found over at Wikipedia, so I won't bore you with each and every one. Suffice it to say...he had a ton of them.

If he had so many cool powers, why did he fight hand to hand? One might ask.

Well, the answer is simple <he says, putting on his Geeky Professor of pseudo-science hat>. Using his powers used his energy and, since the Earth's atmosphere drained him of that energy, he probably had to use it sparingly. Either that or the studio had a limited special effects budget....you choose :)

Besides sparking an interest in pro wrestling, I think Ultraman also helped develop my interest in comic books. Again, it would stand to reason. Good versus bad, hero versus villain, etc.

So, thank you Ultraman....for helping to ignite a young man's imagination, even after all these years.

A tip of the Space Patrol helmet to you, my favorite Martian (alien)!

Now...back to the blogosphere!

Shaaaaaa!

Beginnings Blogfest

L.G. Keltner is coming up on her one year blogging anniversary and, to celebrate, she's hosting a blogfest (wooohooo!!!) centering around...well...beginnings. How did 'such and such' get their start...things like that.

In my case, I'd like to talk about how I got started writing.

Waaaay back, when I was just a kid, I used to draw. A lot. Now, these weren't necessarily good drawings...mainly superheroes and stuff...but I really loved doing it. The walls of my room used to be covered with my own "originals".

 I also liked to read. A lot. In fact, family legend has it that I taught myself to read before I entered Kindergarten by watching Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. My mom loves to tell the tale of how my teacher asked her what sort of 'program' she was using with me and she just laughed saying they had "bought me some books".

Both of those things, I think, sparked my imagination and set me on the path of wanting to create. Whether it be in the form of images or words, I've always liked 'telling tales'.

In high school, I took a creative writing course that most took as an 'easy credit'. I took the class seriously, much to the joy of the teacher, and was encouraged by his comments and critiques. I easily sailed through the class and kept writing in my spare time. Again, not much of note and I don't really remember any of the stories...but I was writing.

When I graduated high school, my graduation presents were

• A suit (for job interviews)
• An electric typewriter, with correction capabilities...no more white out...yay!! (for typing up resumes)

As you can probably tell, my parents were very "Go out into the 'real' world and get a good job!" oriented.

I wore the suit a few times, but really used the typewriter. To tell stories.

I used to have an old shirt gift box that served as my 'filing cabinet' for all my tales, but was thrown out in one of my many moves.

In college I randomly took an "Intro to Magazine Writing" course, the professor having been an editor at the Cincinnati Enquirer. I remember one night (it was a night course...get your mind out of the gutter), she stopped me as I was turning in a quiz.

"Hey, just curious, what's your major?"

"I'm not sure yet....I haven't decided."

"Have you ever thought of journalism? You have a unique writing style."

"Umm...no, I haven't...but I'll give it some thought."

After some thought, I figured it might be something I'd like to pursue, so I declared my major in Journalism. I minored in eating lunch in the cafe'.....they had some goooood food on campus.

Though I never graduated college, I always enjoyed the courses and found the whole process of writing/Journalism very interesting. After a while, though, I became a bit jaded with Journalism, dropped out of college and went to work in 'the real world'.

I'd still write every now and again, when something would spark my imagination, but never really thought of doing much with it until the past few years. Again, it's like something clicked and I wanted to find my voice and put it out there.

Out in the 'real world'.

So that's the exciting tale of how I got started putting words on paper and hoping they'd at least make sense, if not entertain.

Thanks L.G. for hosting this great blogfest idea :)